How should I edit a scene like this?

[harmonica44]

For my short film, the main location we used to shoot most of it, had a setback. The owner had not been paying the power bills for quite some time which I did not know about, so the electricity was cut off, and I decided the best thing to do, was just call the movie finished, since the actors' times were up, and I wouldn't want to have to recast and reshoot the whole thing.

So I have two parts of this scene missing, I have to edit around. The situation is, killers break into a house to kill the owner. But the spot a police car when breaking in. The car drives by and doesn't see them in the dark, and they watch it drive by while scared. I wasn't able to get the car, cause of whether conditions. The snow melted after that day, and never came back, so wasn't able to match it before winter was over.

As for inside the location (a house), they break in and quietly search the rooms, making sure who all is in the house. They search the basement and find that a kidnap victim is being held there. I don't have any shots of the victim since that actor didn't show up and wasn't able to find a replacement in time.

I could skip past the basement search, and forget about the victim, but as the intruders sneak through the rest of the house, their demeanor has changed from what they just saw, the so the audience might want that explained a little. I already have dialogue from before explaining that their is a hostage in the house, from the a scene with the owner, talking about it over the phone, so the audience will already know.

But the audience will have to assume that they saw the hostage, without actually seeing them enter the basement. They just enter from upstairs, with no downstairs shots. Should I do it that way, or should I just skip them searching the basement. Having them skip might weaken the suspense though, cause it shows the intruders aren't as bright, but it would also mean that I would have to skip ahead, and they are already in another part of the house, which could weaken the eerie quietness of having to tip toe around, if all of a sudden I cut ahead, and they are somewhere else. So it's a tough one.

I could skip the police car part entirely, and skip the basement search, or keep both parts and just imply rather than show, but will only implying it, weaken the film as well, cause it feels unfinished, by not having any shots of it?

 

[GuerrillaAngel]

1) Do a pan shot of a police car driving by with the camera zoomed in showing only the doors and door windows. Lack of snow problem solved.

2) Stage a kidnap victim shot elsewhere. Show the victim as seen from a small crack in the door -- handheld moving slowly at eye level. This will give the illusion of the the killers looking at the victim. Lack of victim solved.


Good luck.

 

[harmonica44]

I can't really show it from elsewhere because that same room that the victim is held in, is used earlier in the film in flashback, so the audience will know what the room looks like already. I could use the door eye level thing maybe... They go into a door leading down stairs, then come back up. Somewhere in between I would have to have another door, downstairs, but not be able to show them get to it. I would have to skip ahead to it already opening, if that works. I also have the master shot of the intruders seeing the victim from the stairs as they peak around, but it's just a mastershot, and you cannot see in the intruders eyes. Since I am on the one who sees him first I could reshoot my eyes but would have to light it to look the same in a completely different room, and not sure if I can get it to match.

I didn't get any shots of the police car, because of the weather but I could go out to where they frequently drive by and hope to catch one and shoot it.

 

[knightly]

Imply the cop car with dialog, I assume you got reaction shots of the people inside to that... just record a quick line to put in as they look up "cop!" or something.

For the other, you have the room earlier from a flashback, green screen you actor tied up on a chair or what ever elsewhere and comp that into a quick shot (match lighting from the scene, etc...). cut from the subject searching and pulling on the the door knob, to a fast cut of the person tied up, back to them storming upstairs or whatever. Quick cuts to hide the work around and add a break in the pacing, then some sound hits to jar the audience away from looking at the image too closely.

 

[harmonica44]

Even though I have the room earlier from a flashback I don't have the right angle. I don't have the angle, looking at the victim from their point of view. Nor, do I have an angle from the victims point of view. It will be awkward side angles, and the angles will look poor. I don't really have an actor right now, for that, so I would have to put out another call for one, but not sure if it's worth it cause of poor angles.

I have reactions shots, but none of them say 'look a cop'. I just have silent reaction shots. I can check the dialogue again, but it wasn't in the script, so I don't think anyone said it.

 

[knightly]

Just whisper "cop" into a mic... the actor makes the reaction (perhaps you can have them lock eyelines or something across a cut, then the shot of the cop car with the ADR'd line over it (whispered, you should be able to fake the voice well enough to make it passable)... back to a reaction shot and you never see the mouths move, it's ok.

Don't show us a POV on the room, jsut the shot of the comped actor in the chair from whatever angle you have it, then to the other actor passing the doorway and looking in, attitude shifting, closeup on their eyes (don't even need the same background if that needs reshooting).

Buy the DVD http://www.radiusmovie.com/ 2 disk set and watch how they faked insert shots with the producer's hands and a floor mat in a different location to get a shot they didn't have... stop thinking literally, you're making a reality from scratch, you don't need to have it be actual reality. If the color of the wall is all you need behind a head to put it in the scene, find some spray paint that's close, then paint a piece of plywood and hang it from the cieling with twine... frame close enough and no one will be able to tell that you're shooting in your garage, or in walmart, or in the forest...

I have a single scene in a short I produced that has 3 back to back shots from 3 separate locations separated by 80 miles... one was an old cool cistern basement (daytime, windows blocked), the second was my dad's basement (lit to hide the walls, even though it was night time), the third was my garage during the day (holding a piece of foamcore as flag, and using just the front panel of the coffin we'd built to get a shot of the lid of a coffin closing on an actor... the only commonality was the actor.

Think laterally, all of these problems are solveable, you're letting logic get in the way... what makes a location the same place between shots? The actor, the eyeline, the wall color? The truth is, the edit makes the locations the same:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Gve37nWBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Gve37nWBo

 

[harmonica44]

Okay thanks. You won't be able to see the actors face though as he sees in the intruders. You will just be able to see back of his head, maybe a bit of the side, close up. There are also people in the way of the shots, so I would have to remove them and recreate the background with the clone stamp tool or something but make it look real.

 

[knightly]

posting clips gives better answers, I'm just giving advice based on the things you tell me... you said you had a shot of the room, not people in the room... different advice for that... I'd have to see the footage.

Clone stamp is mostly useless in video unless you're altering a still image (as stated in previous other threads). There's no such thing as real when it comes to film... you're lying to your audience... do it like you mean it... even documentaries are completely biased.

We're performing slight of hand, learn about distraction and misdirection. For compositing, start playing with colorforms... seriously! Your mind is so focussed on the linear progression of the story, that you forgot that you're building a reality which takes layers of information... not just linear clip after clip.

http://www.amazon.com/On-Directing-Film-David-Mamet/dp/0140127224 David Mamet has a segment where he talks about montage editing as a story telling tool. A clip of someone intercut with a clip of a phone and a clock shows that person waiting for a phone call... if you replace the phone clip with a clip of soneone walking down a hallway, the first subject is waiting for the second... and/or the second is late. There's no dialog there, there's no locational context in any of the shots. They can be clips from months apart and worlds away, but they're related because they're linked over an edit.

 

[WalterB]

The simple solution: skip the cops :-p

Now you have only one solution to think about

 

[WalterB]

You say the hostage can't look at the others, because of the angle.

Does the audience know where the door is located?
Does the door have to be in front of the hostage?
No+No=angle is not important.

Shoot a door getting opened. (Without showing any human parts: easier to mask)
Use a tripod to get a stable shot for easy masking.
In after effects you mask the dooropening that gets bigger because the doors is being opened.
Put the hostage shot beneath it.
(If you know how to use fast blur (with repeat edges) and keyframes you can fake a focuspull from the door to the hostage. You may need to precompose the door-layer if the mask prevents a proper blur on the edge of the mask.)
Make sure the top and bottom of the door aren't visible.

In case you want to add a shot where someone actually opens the door: use the tripod, wear the same jacket/coat/shirt as the one who would open the door and shoot a close up of your hand opening the door.
Just before you can really look through that door, you cut to the dooropening-shot discribed above.
Make sure the angles in relation to the door are (a bit) different in the 2 shots.

(If you don't understand what I'm saying: I can draw it.)

What is the good thing about this solution?
Nobody know that the door you shoot is not the actual basement door.
Like knightly said: editing makes it 'the door'.
(I do that all the time: shots on different locations edited as if it's all next to each other. Or shooting different scens/shots on the very same location, but making it look like totally different locations. It's all make believe )